Patna, July 29 : Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Tuesday laid the foundation stone of his dream project, a Rs.14.17 billion rail wheel factory, at Bela in Chapra district of Bihar.
After laying the foundation stone, Lalu Prasad announced that the much awaited construction work would start soon at Chapra, which falls in his parliamentary constituency.
The factory is expected to go into production in 2010.
East Central Railway chief public relations officer A.K. Chandra said the rail wheel factory, the third in the country after the Yelahanka factory near Bangalore and Durgapur Steel Plant in West Bengal, will annually produce 100,000 wheels.
Railways officials said the proposed factory would be different in that it would mainly use scrap iron from railway yards across the country to make wheels using technology from US-based Griffin.
"The reuse of high-quality scrap which at present is being auctioned off by the railways will lead to huge cost savings and increased profitability of the railways," an official said.
According to a press release issued by the railways, the comprehensive contract for setting up the factory and allied structures has been awarded to Larsen and Toubro, which competed with Tata Projects and Gammon India to bag the project.
